Amir Khan once commented (after Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke) that he will
never work with Mahesh Bhatt again. He said the filmmaker was a little too
capricious for his taste. You never knew what you would get when he arrived on
the sets and you never knew what direction the film or a character will take.
One day it would be This and the next
day it would be That. Mr. Khan called
him undisciplined. As I go through the Filmography of this once prolific
filmmaker, I can easily see where Mr. Khan is coming from. I see wild swings
from brilliant to – to put it mildly – not so brilliant. For every Arth, there is a Duplicate. And for every Saransh,
there is a Kartoos. It is
frustrating, because you can see that the movies where he doesn’t get it right,
he just isn’t putting his mind to it. Many of those are simply rip offs of
popular Hollywood films. When he does get it right though, he can create beautiful
cinema. And that’s exactly what he did when he created one of my all time
favourites, Zakhm.
It is said that Mr. Bhat put a
lot of his own experiences, a lot of himself, in Zakhm. And it shows. He tells a story that is both moving and
manages to put forward a personal opinion. One thing is for sure, this is not a
film without its flaws. In fact, whatever flaws there are, they are rather
glaring. But, a couple of outstanding performances and a relationship the likes
of which we have not seen before or since, help take our minds off less
flattering bits.
It is then, a story of a mother
and her son against the backdrop of communal tension in India. I am not going
to give away any more of the story details, not because they will be spoilers,
but due to my feeling that the story is not really the point – not for me at
least. This film is all about this one unique relationship. Indian cinema has
always successfully dramatised the mother-son relationship. We have seen a
mother who doesn’t hesitate to shoot her own son as just punishment for his
wrong deeds. We have seen a mother, who doesn’t approve of her son’s actions,
being there because she knows he will need her to be there. And in countless
other instances we have seen her being protective. She is invariably a paragon
of virtue and a pillar of support. But, here it is different. Here, both of
them exist on an equal footing. They are friends, each others’ secret keepers.
The son knows his mother like anyone will know his/her best friends. He knows
her heartaches and her passions. He knows what she wants, what she craves. He is
her support. She needs to hold him close as much as he needs to cuddle up in
her lap. It moved me in a way no other film had.
What makes this happen are a
couple of outstanding performances in the lead. And no, I am not talking about
mother and son here; I am talking about the son only. His performance in this
movie brought Mr. Ajay Devgan his first national award – and it was richly
deserved. Till then he wasn’t really known as a power performer, but this film
changed all that. For the first time I saw him put his intense and expressive eyes
to good use. Critics often talk about depth in a performance, and while it is
an abstract, intangible entity, this performance does, in a way, explain what
these guys are talking about. Mr. Devgan conveys a lot of emotions that bring
out different facets of his character. His determination, his pain and his
longing are portrayed convincingly. But, while he carries out his part in the
movie with Aplomb, the real star of the show is (then) young Kunal Khemu.
As a young version of Ajay
Devgan, he carries the movie on his tender shoulders. His performance is mature
beyond his years. Usually while talking about a performance, a few moments come
to mind when the actor has really nailed the character. But with this one, all
the moments have been nailed. So, I will just let you, the reader, find out
more for yourself.
As I have said upfront, this
movie is not without its flaws and that these flaws are glaring. And all of
them are due to the caricaturised characterisation. So much so, if I mentioned the
line up of characters, anybody with even less than usual exposure to films will
be able to tell me how they will behave. And so, while other performances are
adequate, they are nothing special. And that is to be expected when you give
these actors so little to play with.
Another important aspect of this
film is its superb and soulful music. M. M. Kreem does a fantastic job of
creating a melodious and a delightfully situational soundtrack. All the songs
such as ‘Hum Yahan, Tum Yahan’ and ‘Maa ne kaha’ are a delight to listen to. And
they add a lot to the experience of watching the film.
This film is a true reflection of
the filmmaker who made it. How can a film have such unimaginative
characterization yet such a unique take on a relationship that has been done to
death in our films, is beyond me. It is very easy to dismiss this film for its
flaws, as they are a plenty. But, for me, it is best remembered for that
special relationship. There is a scene in this film where the mother (Pooja
Bhatt) is holding her son close in the aftermath of a tragedy trying to soothe
him. But as a viewer I found it hard to make out who was comforting whom. And that
my dear reader, I find, is inexplicably very endearing to me.
